{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "The USAGov Bilingual Style Guide Is Now Online! |Digital.gov",
    "description": "The USAGov Bilingual Style Guide Is Now Online!",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/14/the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"The USAGov Bilingual Style Guide Is Now Online!","summary" : "About a year and a half ago, the Federal Citizen Information Center—today called USAGov—embarked on a very ambitious task: integrating our content operations. We blurred lines that defined silos and adopted a bilingual content approach to offer a more consistent experience, regardless of language preference or point of access to our information. See more about","date" : "2016-04-14T10:00:12-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"lgodfrey" : "Laura Godfrey"},"topics" : {
        
            "accessibility" : "Accessibility",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "design" : "Design",
            "human-centered-design" : "Human-centered design",
            "multilingual" : "Multilingual",
            "product-and-project-management" : "Product and project management",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-04-14-the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/04/2016-04-14-the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/04/2016-04-14-the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/04/2016-04-14-the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online.md","slug" : "the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/14/the-usagov-bilingual-style-guide-is-now-online/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eAbout a year and a half ago, the Federal Citizen Information Center—today called USAGov—embarked on a very ambitious task: integrating our content operations. We blurred lines that defined silos and adopted a bilingual content approach to offer a more consistent experience, regardless of language preference or point of access to our information. See \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/12/video-blog-sarah-crane-usa-gov/\"\u003emore about our rebirth\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/04/600-x-520-USAgov-Bilingual-Content-Style-Guide.jpg\"\n    alt=\"USA gov Bilingual Content Style Guide\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we were figuring out our new content model, we saw the need to reinvent our style guidelines to reflect our new organization. So we did our research. We looked at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide\"\u003eUK Style Guide\u003c/a\u003e, the Canadian \u003ca href=\"http://responsiveprocess.com/surrey/guide/writing/web-guide-checklist/\"\u003eCity of Surrey Style Guide\u003c/a\u003e, and several others. We were on the right track to create one place where all guidance would reside, in both languages, and that’s how the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usa.gov/style-guide/table-of-contents\"\u003eUSAGov Bilingual Style Guide\u003c/a\u003e was born.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"what-was-the-process\"\u003eWhat was the process?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to assemble a small cross-functional team to make sure we included all aspects of content creation. The team included bilingual digital and print content writers and editors as well as accessibility and marketing folks. Next, we started crafting a structure to the Guide that could easily translate to online publication – our ultimate goal. For the guidance to be effective, it had to be inclusive of both languages – we did not want separate online locations for English and Spanish.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe skeleton was simple. Start by defining: purpose, voice, and tone, and move to areas such as writing for the web, plain language, SEO, accessibility, and marketing. Each expert provided the pieces we needed to incorporate in each area to give the writers sufficient guidance to keep the platform consistent but not cramp their individual style.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"how-did-we-handle-english-and-spanish\"\u003eHow did we handle English and Spanish?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimple. A lot of the guidance applies to both languages, so if there is no specific Spanish call out, the team knows to apply the same guidance across the board. When we do need specifics for the Spanish language, such as numbers, capitalization rules, etc., we include that guidance in that section under a “Spanish” subheading. See separate Spanish guidance in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usa.gov/style-guide/style-guidance#item-212511\"\u003eCapitalization section\u003c/a\u003e as an example.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe wanted to share this process with you. So, take a look and come back from time to time as we add new sections and update existing guidance. The USAGov Bilingual Style Guide is a living tool that reflects the evolving nature of languages.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis post was originally published on the \u003ca href=\"https://blog.usa.gov/\"\u003eUSAgov blog\u003c/a\u003e by Laura Godfrey, the Bilingual Senior Editor of USAGov.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAdditionally, you can check out DigitalGov’s \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/\"\u003eResources\u003c/a\u003e to review the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/bilingual-glossaries-dictionaries-style-guides/\"\u003eBilingual Glossaries, Dictionaries, and Style Guides\u003c/a\u003e, and join the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/multilingual/\"\u003eMultilingual Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e and other\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/\"\u003eCommunities\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}